


Ghost Lights

by Rairi



Series: The World Was Not Made For Us [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Kirigakure | Hidden Mist Village
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-15
Updated: 2019-03-15
Packaged: 2019-11-18 17:36:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18124385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rairi/pseuds/Rairi
Summary: "Waking up in a world surrounded by flamesWhere everything I liked is about to fade"-WoodkidWhen Kai comes back from a mission, Kirigakure welcomes him with sharp teeth and sharper intentions.





	Ghost Lights

As Kai walked through the winding streets of Kirigakure, he saw more dirty looks in his direction than ever before. It seemed like every civilian he passed would look at his uniform with that now familiar mix of resentment, fear, and hate. It didn’t matter much – not one would dare stop him or even spit his way – but he was hyperaware of the glares that slid to the ground whenever his eyes flicked in their direction, and the way they hung heavy on his back as he passed.

The mission centre was quiet by the time Kai arrived, people scattered amongst the desks and talking in low voices. As he made his way in, a team of genin clustered around their jounin-sensei as a desk-ninja handed over a yellow-banded scroll. One of the girls was visibly excited, twisting her hands together over what was probably her first C-rank mission. Kai frowned minutely: poor emotional control in that one.

Not a good sign for that team.

He stepped forwards to Denji, greeting him with a lazy salute that he responded, before tapping his pen on the table. “Got something good for me?” the desk-nin drawled more than asked, eyes half lidded and slouching a bit. Kai dropped his red-banded scroll on the desk.

“Successfully completed the mission. Preliminary report already included.” Denji reached out and unfolded the scroll, and began skimming through it, raising his eyebrows as he reached a part of the report.

“So, confirmed Iwa presence in Bakusui ridge then. Intel is gonna love this.” Denji leaned forward as he paid more attention to the report. After a few seconds, he rolled it back up, took a sheet out, and began to fill it out. “You’ll want to debrief more fully with our diplomacy corps, maybe they can draw blood out of this encroachment”. The sheet spun around, and the man handed Kai his pen. Kai leaned down, escaped strands from his ponytail falling forward –

The sound of something roaring from behind. He was suddenly in the air, force blasting against him, no sense of direction, the shock of hitting something and driving air out of him. His vision whited out. A high ringing sound was splitting his ears, but everything else sounded muted. Everything _hurt_.

Kai was up in bare moments, barely time for blood to begin trickling down from several cuts, and he blinked as he noticed the thick dust and smoke in the air, an acrid smell seeping through as he started coughing. He shifted his defensive position, eyes moving rapidly around, and he felt like he’d been shallowly stabbed in the back several times.

Denji was on the ground next to him, impaled by long fragments of wood, eyes already glazing over in death. He was covered by a sheet of dust and as Kai watched, a piece of ceiling fell next to him.

Well then.

 _Bomb_ , supplied his brain now that he wasn’t working off instinct, _big one, bigger than I’ve ever seen_. _Visibility zero, got to get out and see who I’m fighting against_.

He was up and out before the thought had finished coalescing, jumping out of debris and rubble, climbing on the remains of the walls until he was out of the smoke and could see as several shinobi did the same, clinging to walls and rooftops, stopping to eye each other speculatively as they tried to find the source of the bomb; but Kai was distracted from that by the horizon.

Spirals of smoke rose up in the horizon, and even as he watched, a bloom of fire and a far-away burst of sound rose up through the mist.

Kirigakure was under attack.

And as he watched, a dazed ninja still on the ground was set upon by a crowd of villagers armed with what looked like an entire armoury, he realized that it wasn’t just that.

It was under attack by its own.

\---

Kai was hiding from civilians. From _civilians_. Sure, Kirigakure civilians were all trained in basic fighting in case of invasion, but they weren’t a match for a fully trained jonin.

Except that… except that there were so many. So many, well-armed, and _angry_. He’d watched as a mob had pulled down a jounin still dazed from the bomb blast and executed him. Except that Kai himself was woozy from blood loss and the shrapnel embedded in his back.

Except that the civilians weren’t alone.

The first sign he’d seen had been a flicker in the right and a chunin fell down where she was in a spray of red. It took another flicker and another ninja down for Kai to realize what was going on and guard as shuriken flew and embedded themselves into the arm he’d brought up in guard.

A shinobi glared at him from where he was standing, half hidden behind a broken wall and rubble.

He didn’t have time to ponder this treason, before his new enemy rushed out of view, probably to find easier targets.

So. There were shinobi siding with the civilians in this conflict. Probably civilian born then.

A significant portion of their forces were compromised then. Was it the resentment about the Mizukage’s rule?

He couldn’t blame them for being frustrated if that was it, though he’d never say it. The Mizukage was a brutal man, from one of the most talented bloodlines in the village, who blatantly favoured the ninja clans over civilian concerns.

But he’d have expected riots, not surprisingly quiet, organized squads of civilians making their way across the streets and harrying every shinobi they saw.

Kai climbed and began making his way to the pillar of smoke that marked the Mizukage compound. He’d get orders and clear out the streets. He just had to stay alive. 

\---

It was only when Kai found his first destroyed clan compound, small bodies littering the destroyed entryway, a woman’s corpse halfway through rice sheet walls, that he began to get an inkling of the depth of the rebellion.

They’d set off a bomb in a clan compound.

 _They’d set off a bomb in a clan compound_. Kai nearly turned around right then and there.

But if there was a bomb set off in the Katakiri compound, he’d be too late anyways, and there were orders waiting. 

His stomach churned as he leaped across rooftops as the mist mixed and became heavy with the smoke and acrid tang of explosives, but his face stayed clear and smooth, for all apparent purposes calm and steady.

\---

The Mizukage’s tower was chaos.

Correction: the Mizukage’s tower was half rubble, and its surroundings were chaos. There were screams and the sound of metal against metal, and throughout it all new explosions would burst and pepper the city, filling the world with hot shrapnel.

The ground was littered with the bodies of both men and women, mostly un-uniformed citizens of the lower caste of Kirigakure. They were dressed in worn thin clothes, the colour leeched out from them from too many washes, with decorating sprays of arterial red, temporary decoration before that too, would darken into brown. The bodies of shinobi in their darker camouflage stood out where they fell, flak vests torn.

And the fighting raged on.

As Kai watched, a squad of young men armed with tobiguchi and kama surrounded a team of genin and began hassling them, driving them back with swings and their superior numbers. The children fought back grimly and silently, letting out grunts of pain as a swipe or block would jar their formation. One man leaped forwards, kama upheld high over his head, and one of the genin took the opportunity to duck under his shoddy attack and cut his throat, kicking him back into his companions, tripping them up enough for a second genin to step back and catch a breather. The third genin kept guard at their backs, and they stepped forwards simultaneously, moving closer to a wall.

Kai vaulted over the backs of three men, slapping explosive tags on them as he did, and turned to dispatch them as they fell, cracking their bones as he jabbed at the solar plexus, at a throat, breaking ribs and leaving the men groaning and clutching at themselves in pain. He whirled and smashed a kick through the block of one of the men who had enough reaction speed to bring his weapon up. Following through on the momentum he rotated and let his other leg drag him through another kick, clearing more space around him as he snapped a neck. Another second, and he’d drawn his kunai and slashed the hamstrings of a woman who dropped to the ground with a scream.

The genin trio stepped closer, seeing the path he was clearing for them. Kai took a moment to throw two shuriken over their heads; one man dropped, clutching at his eye where the shuriken had embedded itself. Kai stepped back, and felt something cut into his leg, before being yanked out. He turned, and five people froze, Kai’s face frozen in a rictus of rage, an aura of such intimidation emanating from him that one man dropped his tobiguchi and ran away. The woman whose hamstrings he’d slashed lay on the ground where she clutched her kama with white knuckles, staring from where she had swung her weapon into Kai’s leg, staring at him wide open eyes, pupils dilating.

He stepped forwards and kicked her face. He could feel her jaw give way underneath the force of the kick.

He moved on.

Climbing on to the precariously leaning wall that the genin were fighting towards, he let his eyes unfocus as he gazed around the battle. He could kill as many civilians as he found, but that would do little good in the long term if he couldn’t figure out who was leading them, or if his superiors had a better idea of how to shut things down. He stayed unmoving as a wall of water tore through a band of schoolteachers armed with wooden clubs that had surrounded a chuunin fifteen meters away from him, and kept watching, eyes flicking restlessly from knot to knot of conflict.

Closer to the tower, he could see more shinobi clustered together. Out here in the outskirts, however, ninja were isolated from each other, fighting against waves and waves of civilians. No matter how many they took down, more stepped forwards, fresh and eyes glittering with rage. One man clubbed the already dead body of a dead genin, screaming “freak” every other hit, tears bursting out of his eyes. Underneath the blows, he could see the snowflake symbol of the Yuki clan on his clothes.

Seeing no commander, no sign of the Mizukage or his advisors, Kai dropped back down, turning back to see that two of the three genin were standing up against the wall, shielding their third where he crouched behind them, bleeding copiously from his shoulder. Internally sighing, he grabbed hold of a spare scythe and began to cut his way through the crowd. He blocked one hit to his chest only to smash at the offending hand. Another turn and Kai was dodging a swing, and he closed in the distance to knee his opponent, and punched another, the metal guards he kept on his knuckles breaking teeth as he plowed his way to another wall, and another vantage point.

His back ached, and he could feel a throbbing in his leg that would throw off serious blows with it. Damn that woman. He’d barely done any ninjutsu to get through, beyond some kawarimi, so his chakra levels were stable and nowhere near depleted. But he was winded. He concentrated on levelling his breathing, taking deep, controlled breaths that expanded his chest, even as he began to scan his surroundings again.

He frowned as he spotted a man in drab off-green clothing and sandals moving with the civilians. His movements were too smooth to be one of them, and he seemed to be directing a squad as they stormed a jounin who looked to have been on the wrong end of one of the bombs set off in the area. Perhaps another village had decided to interfere and provide support? Was this really an enemy plan to take advantage of the citizen resentment and bring it to a boil? But the man opened his mouth and exposed the sharp shark teeth prevalent only in Kirigakure. He could only be a local ninja, turned traitor for his family.

A burst of fire took his attention further in to the tower, where a crowd of shinobi who had been defending the tower fell to another bomb. As he looked, more bombs were thrown, too many to deflect, as ninja scattered to avoid the bursts. Where there had been a small chuunin squad was only a crater spattered by the torn bodies of three, a fourth limping away as a fifth was swallowed up by the crowd of civilians. It was of a sea of limbs and shouts, and Kai could barely distinguish what was happening in the distance, but the strategy was clear – isolate and overwhelm with numbers. It didn’t matter that each bomb surge would also take several civilians with it, so long as it scattered the ninja so that they could be overwhelmed.

Kai suspected that in a war of attrition, any victory would be hard worn.

Too hard worn to be anything but a huge target for other villages to attack.

Kai felt his heart sink as he considered the future. What had the traitors been _thinking_? If they won, they’d have too few shinobi on their side to properly carry out their missions, and word would spread about Kirigakure’s difficulties. More missions would be sent to other nations. Other nations would nibble at their borders. If they lost, the same would happen. Regardless of who won, Kirigakure would lose. 

Forget the civil war, war with the other villages would be coming.

And regardless of who won, the resentment against bloodline talents wouldn’t disappear.

Kai took one last long look at the fighting, turned tail, and ran home. 

\---

The gates were barred. The walls stood tall, a protective three meters tall, surrounding a pleasant enclave where his family was housed. Scaling them proved no problem, at least, not to a shinobi chakra walking, but a civilian would have a hard time doing anything but lobbing a bomb over.

Kai arrived at a run whose momentum did not slow down as he climbed the wooden walls, leaping over the other side and landing with a soft thump, chakra bracing his knees against the impact. He had barely taken two steps when he a whirl of movement broke out and he was dodging a blow that would have shattered his sternum, ducking underneath a kunai that had been thrown his way, when his feet were swept out from beneath him. He hit the ground with a heart _thud_ and was rolling away when a body gripped his arm and twisted it into a hold at his back, and he stilled, feeling the sharp edge put against his neck. There was a second of silence, and then,“Kai? Is that you?” and the painful pressure on his arm lessened. “What happened to you? You look like you’ve been put through the wringer”,

“Yes yes, hurry, we don’t have much time,” he grit out, and the pressure disappeared. He rolled over and found uncle Shouson staring at him through narrowed eyes, a curved kunai still held at the ready. Rubbing his already raw back, Kai stared back. “Get everyone to pack up. We’ve got a civil war, civilians bombing everything, and the Mizukage’s tower is down.” He turned his head and saw cousin Issan also standing at the ready behind him, her mouth turned uncharacteristically down.

A quick look around and he could see several family members standing at the porch staring at him, all of them dressed for action. He could see several of the family summons patrolling the edges of the compound, the larger female hyenas they used in combat, rather than the smaller males they favoured for tracking.

The family had not been caught sleeping by the attacks, but had instead armed up in preparation. His girls were safe.

“What do you mean, pack up” challenged Shouson, still staring, body tightly wound and prepared for action, the lines on the face of the older man deep. “If there is civil war and civilians are responsible, we should put them down and establish order”. A murmur of assent spread through those assembled, but he could see that a few like aunt Katsura and cousin Shikyo were quiet, and a small murmur of “traitor” reached his ears.

Turning to face everyone, he raised his voice so they could all hear him.

“I saw the fighting after coming in to report on a mission. They’re overwhelming even trained jounin with numbers, and they’re not giving up. I couldn’t even find anybody commanding our forces, and the Mizukage tower is rubble,” he ignored the sudden raised voices demanding questions, and continued, “The way I’ve seen it, we could win, but our numbers will be cut extremely short, and enemy nations will take the opportunity to strike at us. Or we could lose, and the civilians enact their vengeance on anyone with a bloodline talent.”

Silence fell at those words, many looking eat each other uneasily. The Katakiri family was not well known as shinobi, too small and with a talent that reminded everyone too much of damn Konoha. But not well known was not the same as unknown, and the resentment civilians held had grown too big.

“I saw the Fujiwara compound on my way back,” he continued, “It looked like three bombs had gone off.” 

Issan twitched, and Shousan shook his head, before clapping a hand over Kai’s shoulder. “You’re a good man, Kai,” he said, and Kai winced, not from the pain of impact on his already jarred body. He could feel his awareness sharpen, blooming to follow the chakra pathways coursing through his body, and a wave of disgust surge to accompany the hyperawareness.

He stepped away and nodded curtly at his uncle, and strode off into his home, not bothering to take his sandals off. He could hear cousin Noeru raise her voice. “Alright everyone, pack light, we need to be fighting ready. Prioritize supplies over sentimentals. We’re going to scatter, if we group together we’ll attract to much attention, but spreading out maximizes the chances of more of us escaping notice.” 

Karin was in the nursery, eyes wide open as she looked up from where she was wrapping up her little brother in a sling. “Is it really that bad?” she whispered, before visibly catching herself and firming her expression. Kai ignored the lapse in control – she was young, hadn’t even gone through the battle trials – striding to the pen in the corner where he could see Kiri smacking at blocks enthusiastically. Lifting her up, she greeted him with her characteristic “brrrr” sound, and smacked at his face with pudgy fingers. He gave her a small smile, and fished Himawari from the cradle in which she was sleeping, a teething toy falling out of her mouth. By the time he had them in hand, Karin had already finished with little Sagorou, and was packing a bag with simple baby necessities – wipes, diapers, and a bottle. They’d have to make do without most things, if they were to get out fast.

“Have you seen my wife?” he asked, keeping his eyes on his daughters as he gently placed them in the dual baby carrier he’d bought a few months ago. His young cousin hesitated.

“I haven’t seen her since this morning. She had a hospital shift”. Kai’s heart sank. That was probably one of the places that had been bombed, and if not, she would be busy, taking in the injured.

He worked in silence, gathering up his own baby supplies into a pack, and Karin left, holding a gurgling baby boy as she went to find her mother.

By the time Kai had finished packing up his equipment, sealing clothes and baby supplies in one scroll, and soldier pills, weapons, and money in another, he had made his decision.

He left the compound, heading northeast, to look for Natsumi.

\---

Sticking to the rooftops proved to be wise, especially with two babies strapped to his chest and back. Himawari was gurgling softly with each jump, and he internally thanked whatever Gods were listening that she wasn’t laughing like she usually did. Kiri was characteristically quiet on his back, probably watching with her sharp, intelligent eyes.

It was his own sharp eyes that caught movement in the swirling mist that had him leaping back, arms raised in preparation for a blow that never came. He landed on a rooftop, shifting his weight in a defensive pose, and watched as a woman in the ragged remains of a uniform took a similar stance in front of him, watching him avidly, reading his face for intent. He kept his expression focused and watched her, seeing the flickers that took in his children strapped to his chest, the rapid calculation, before she stood in what deceptively appeared like a neutral position. “It’s the first time I meet a jounin carrying his children like that in the middle of a battlefield, Katakiri-san” she singsonged, but her voice was rough in a way that spoke of screaming. He frowned minutely and kept his defensive pose.

“What do you want, Saitou-san.” Behind him he could feel Kiri moving in her sling, probably trying to get a good look at their – foe? Comrade? She let the question hang in the air before she flipped her long hair, ragged and unkempt, and then he noticed it had been shorn in uneven clumps, one part cut close to the scalp matted with old blood, and then she stood straighter.

“I take it you are fleeing, Kai- _kun_ ” she said, and gestured dramatically. “As anyone with sense will, now that the civilians have given us the opportunity. But escape is not in this direction. Come with me”. He let silence speak by raising his eyebrows. She smiled, and while her eyes slimmed in what a beginner would consider a true smile, he had a chill. “Come with me and we’ll reform away from the Mizukage’s rule, and then reclaim what is ours.” If he had let it, his eyebrows would have raised further up, but instead levelled down. Of course. The ragged uniform, the shorn hair, the ragged voice… she must have been a political prisoner. He hadn’t seen her in months, but he had assumed that she’d simply been on missions when he gave it any thought at all. Something about his skepticism must have come through, because she leaned forwards, intent. “Come with me and away from this _cage_ ” and cage was said with such bitterness that Kai knew the woman would rather destroy than build, and he shook his head.

“No, Junko- _chan_ ” he said, and shifted as he began to walk the rooftops to walk past her, every sense alert to react to the violence that never came. He was another rooftop away when she spoke again. 

“Looking for your little wife, Kai-kun?” The words froze him and he gritted his teeth, turning his head slightly to let her know he was listening. “I saw the hospital you know. It was utterly destroyed. There is no one there for you”. Her voice was solemn, none of the cajoling that had accompanied her proposition. Just the cold facts. Just the truth.

He knew it. He knew it and he was heading there anyways. He was being foolish and endangering his children. Without a word, he turned around, leaving Junko behind to her personal quest, and headed west – away from the sounds of battle, away from the destruction of his life as he knew it, away from his wife, keeping one hand on Himawari’s head as if to comfort her.

West, to the other elemental nations. West, to a missing-nin’s life, and the dangers that came with it, ignoring the wreckage and the conflict, speeding as fast as he could, as if a demon were chasing him.

Unless…

He mulled it over as he ran. There was a good chance he’d be killed. Worse, a chance he’d live, and regret it, caught in holding cells, every bit of knowledge he had, extracted. 

But his girls would survive. Yes, they were soft-hearted enough for that. His girls would survive. 

That had to be good enough.


End file.
